CalTrans conducted the sweep because the agency said it wasn't safe to have people walking and living so close to a busy overpass.

"I don't even know what to think right now," Margarita Rosas said.

Rosas lived in the encampment, and even though she said she kept the area clean, the property owner who owns land next to the camp complained to the city.

"We identified that land was actually CalTrans," said Don Reynolds, city project manager. "They coordinated with CHP prior to the holiday, and issued notices that they were coming this week. But the city couldn't clean it up because it wasn't their property."

Evaristo Nava and his girlfriend are homeless, and says it feels they and others who call this area home live on the run.

"Hopefully it's the last time I have to move all of our stuff around," Nava said. "I've never been homeless before."

"We're going to be out on the streets, there's no place to go," said Nava's girlfriend Brandy Sather.

"Tell us where we could be at, so we can't be bothered, where can we be without them telling us we got to move, you know," Rosas said.

Homelessness is a top priority in the Salinas City Council's strategic plan, but city leaders say they can't respond immediately because they don't have they resources.

They have looked into what other cities have done such as setting aside land for homeless camps.

"They have the capability to fund camps for people live," said Reynolds. "But they're regulated and managed, and we don't have capacity, not even program to do that."

City leaders say the warming shelter at Sun Street Centers is a resource for the homeless, but many choose not to sleep there overnight.